


Sand Castles

by devilgrrl



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Baby Dragon, Beaches, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Turtles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-20
Updated: 2015-08-20
Packaged: 2018-04-16 06:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4614609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilgrrl/pseuds/devilgrrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil and Melinda meet as kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sand Castles

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Axolotl7](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axolotl7/gifts).



> 1\. This is my first fic ever!  
> 2\. It is specifically for my daughter but instigated by Axolotl7 so really dedicated to both.  
> 3\. Be gentle, be critical. I don't care just comment so that I'll know somebody read it.

“Phil!” the leggy brunette yelled though perhaps not loud enough.

“Phiiillllllll” longer this time but still he didn’t seem to notice.

“PHILLIP JAMES COULSON!!!” at the use of his full name the boy turned back from the water. “Phil you can’t get that cast wet. Get back from the water.”

“But Mooo-ooommmm” he whined, puppy dog eyes twinkling, sweet smile splitting open a gap-toothed face and already trudging through the sand towards her. He was a good kid, maybe lost in his own little world from time to time but as good a boy as anyone could ask for.

“Honey that water is too cold to play in anyway. Why don’t you go build a sand castle or check out the tide pools? You might find a sand dollar or starfish…” but he’d grabbed his backpack and he was off running again. She settled back under her navy umbrella to enjoy the sunny day and breeze from the still cool water.

Left to his own devices Phil explored the tide pools and dunes and finding nothing of particular interest sat down in the shade of a dune and took out his favorite Captain America action figure. Building a sand castle with one hand presented no small difficulty at first but he managed to create a HYDRA fortress for Cap to capture by dripping sandy water into delicate mounds resembling mountains of candle wax and continued until he had an intricately patterned maze. Occasionally, he looked up and felt a pang of jealousy for the only other child playing within his range on the sparsely populated beach. She was a tiny girl with long, dark hair and pink ruffled swimsuit just jumping above the waves each time a white crest came to her. He knew the water really was quite cold from walking through up to his knees but he wished he could be out splashing in the waves just the same. Eventually he looked up from his monumental building project to discover that she was no longer jumping waves but fifty yards up the beach at the edge of a dune building her own sand castle.

His approach wasn’t particularly stealthy because he didn’t want to startle her and he really wanted to see what she was building so far from the water. It appeared to be just mounds of sand in a circle. More like a cauldron than a castle and he wondered why.

“I like your castle but where’s the door? How do you get in?” he asked her.

She never looked up, she’d seen him headed her way already. “It’s not made to get in” she said, “It’s to keep people out.”

“Oh. Why?”

“It isn’t a castle, it’s a fortress. It’s made to protect things.”

“Like what?”

“Dragons.”

“There’s a dragon in there?” he asked quite seriously.

“Lots of them” she said.  
“Cool” he tilted his head as if giving thought to a matter of some difficulty. “I was going to see if you could help me with my project.”

Finally she looked up from her building. “What’s wrong with your arm?”

He lifted the white cast covered in red and blue graffiti. “I broke it chasing Red Skull on my skateboard.”

“So you fell down?”

“Yeah” he replied sheepishly. “So would you help me?”

She stood and unselfconsciously brushed the sand from her bottom. “What do we do?” she asked while following him back to his building site. Her dark eyes gleamed with delight at the intricate plan before her. He opened up his back pack and took out a box of dominoes and smiled at her. They began setting up right through maze he had created. It took a while and Phil talked while he placed the black rectangle one-handed and she more swiftly with two.

After some time they ran out of dominoes and he asked “Do you want to push the first one?” She smiled and nodded. He said “Just wait a second and let me get my mom. She’ll want to see this. Do you want to get your mom?”

“My mom’s not here, just my nanny.”

He’s eyes bugged out. “A nanny? Like Mary Poppins?”

“No. She doesn’t sing. She makes me clean my room and she teaches me things” the dark eyed girl giggled.

“Like what?”

“How to be a ninja.”

His eyes bugged out further. “Really cool! Do you want to go get her? Where are you from anyway?”

“That’s classified.”

“I don’t know where that is. What’s your name? My mom will ask me.”

“Silk Tiger.”

“I’m Captain Rogers” he responded quickly. “I’ll be back in just a minute.” And he ran off to find his mother. When he returned with Julie in tow, his little friend was nowhere to be seen but his dominoes were still set up in as complex a pattern as a six-year old can imagine and ready to fall.

There were only two days left to their vacation and Phil went to the beach the next day and the last looking for Silk Tiger. He checked her sand castle up by the dunes for signs of her presence. On his last day, he discovered the walls of her castle torn down and a cadre of empty shells in its bowl-shaped bottom. Dragons, he thought and smiled in wonder.


End file.
